A tale of two flags

Wednesday

Dec 29, 2010 at 10:35 AM

Chuck Mobley

A 34-star American flag and the Georgia flag of secession will fly at Fort Pulaski National Monument on Sunday, as that still-scarred citadel pauses to commemorate the 150th anniversary of one of the climatic acts that led to the Civil War.

"On Jan. 3, 1861, Georgia troops ousted the U.S. Army and took possession of Fort Pulaski two weeks before Georgia even seceded from the Union," said Fort Pulaski Superintendent Randy Wester. "Three months before the war started, the country was already unraveling."

The troops were members of the Chatham Artillery, Savannah Home Guards and Oglethorpe Light Infantry, local militia units. They were sent to the fort, then an imposing defensive installation that stood guard over Savannah and its port, by Gov. Joseph E. Brown.

Historian Jacqueline Jones, describing the takeover in her 2008 book "Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War," said the Georgians regarded their mission "as less a military maneuver than a holiday excursion."

They tramped over the drawbridge, confronted the handful of U.S. soldiers who were stationed inside, and accomplished their goal without firing a shot.

To portray this change of guard, volunteer living historians will march into the fort at 2 p.m. Sunday, lower the 1861 version of the Stars and Stripes, and raise the Georgia flag of secession.

The bloodless takeover was widely celebrated in Savannah. "Occupation of the fort had become a practical necessity," the Savannah Morning News editorialized.

It would remain in state control, according to the paper, "until the people of Georgia, unexcited by passion, and unrestrained by power," determine "whether they will or will not secede from the American Union."

The state of Georgia, on Jan. 19, 1861, did vote to pull out of the Union, and just a few weeks later, on April 12, 1861, the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston pushed the nation into a four-year conflagration that caused more than 600,000 casualties.

Some of them were incurred when the Union, in early 1862, retook control of Fort Pulaski.

"The conflicting loyalties of the Civil War taxed those who lived through it, and even today, the issues defy easy answers," Wester said.

If You Go

What: Living history event commemorating the state of Georgia seizing control of Fort Pulaski in 1861.

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Fort Pulaski National Monument, located 12 miles east of Savannah on U.S. Hwy. 80.

Details: The program will begin near the fort's visitors center. Brief remarks and a musket and cannon firing.

Admission: The entrance fee is $3 per adult; children under 16 are free.